Canadian newspaper The Windsor Star has featured new research from UMBC’s Eric Zeemering, assistant professor of public policy, on how government and NGOs in Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan form cross-border cooperative relationships to promote economic development and create sustainable communities (see full article in the Journal of Urban Affairs).

Zeemering told reporter Dave Hall that although there are great opportunities for collaboration between Windsor and Detroit, the international border often serves to keep the communities apart and “there needs to be a concerted effort to forge those relationships.” Zeemering notes, “The danger in creating cross-border relationships at the political level is that those people change, and the best way to forge those relationships is to establish them at the ground level with city employees.” He cites the Windsor-based International Joint Commission, which focuses on water quality in the Great Lakes, as a strong example of lasting cross-border cooperation.

Excerpt:

When the surface temperature of the Atlantic Ocean was theoretically warmed to 104°F, all three nor’easters were invigorated, wind speeds were increased, new circulation patterns emerged, and precipitation was increased and redistributed. In one of the enhanced cases, the winds exceeded a Category 5 hurricane.

Even with the heaviest precipitation falling over the Atlantic Ocean in these simulations, precipitation of about eight inches per 24 hours would have built a mountain of snow and ice over southeastern Canada. Brewer and I suggested that a storm would have formed and moved across the United States every three days all year round. This would have produced an uncompressed snow pack of about 200 feet per year. Upon compression to solid ice, an ice layer would have grown to about 4,000 feet in 100 years. If bands of additional precipitation were swept around the centers of circulation of enhanced nor’easters off the coast of New England, the accumulation would have been even greater. The additional snow from enhanced nor’easters would explain a thicker Laurentide Ice Sheet in eastern Canada during a recent ice age.

Acknowledgments

The mesoscale model (Weather Research and Forecasting) and data used in this study were developed and maintained by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). NCAR is sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF). This research was funded by the National Creation Research Foundation at the Institute for Creation Research.

We enjoy hosting in-person events in Maryland for the Dissertation House, the Postdoctoral Writing Suite, and the new pilot “Writing for Publication” workshop. If you missed the deadlines for the in-person events, if you go to a school outside of Maryland, or if you can’t join us on campus, please strongly consider joining us online! You can blog with us and be part of the online community by introducing yourself, posting your goals, and recording your progress along the way. Our Winter 2013 cohorts will be blogging in full swing starting January 22, but you can begin now. Here are the links:

1) For “Writing for Publication” – blog here: http://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/2012/12/12/new-initiative-writing-for-publication-january-22-23-2013-umbc/

2) For the Dissertation House Winter 2013 Challenge, blog here: http://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/blog-online-challenge/winter-2013-challenge/

These events are hosted by PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP and The Graduate School at UMBC.

Related articles

• “Dissertation House,” “Postdoc Writing Suite,” & “Writing for Publication” – January 22-25, 2013 (promiseagep.wordpress.com)

We enjoy hosting in-person events in Maryland for the Dissertation House, the Postdoctoral Writing Suite, and the new pilot “Writing for Publication” workshop. If you missed the deadlines for the in-person events, if you go to a school outside of Maryland, or if you can’t join us on campus, please strongly consider joining us online! You can blog with us and be part of the online community by introducing yourself, posting your goals, and recording your progress along the way. Our Winter 2013 cohorts will be blogging in full swing starting January 22, but you can begin now. Here are the links:

1) For “Writing for Publication” – blog here: http://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/2012/12/12/new-initiative-writing-for-publication-january-22-23-2013-umbc/

2) For the Dissertation House Winter 2013 Challenge, blog here: http://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/blog-online-challenge/winter-2013-challenge/

These events are hosted by PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP and The Graduate School at UMBC.

Related articles

• “Dissertation House,” “Postdoc Writing Suite,” & “Writing for Publication” – January 22-25, 2013 (promiseagep.wordpress.com)

UMBC has again made the Kiplinger’s Personal Finance list of the 100 best values in public higher education. The list ranks four-year colleges and universities that “deliver academic quality and affordability.” This marks the fourth year in a row UMBC has appeared among Kiplinger’s best values. On the 2013 list, UMBC ranks 78 for in-state students and 61 for out-of-state ones, both up from last year. Four other Maryland universities made the list, highlighting the state’s commitment to both affordability and excellence in public higher education.

Kiplinger’s assesses quality and affordability based on a number of factors, including retention and graduation rates; student-to-faculty ratios; tuition and fees; and financial aid. The full methodology is available here. The complete rankings are online here.

Robert Deluty, associate dean of the graduate school and associate professor of psychology, has published a new volume of poetry, “The Inventor as Observer.” In his review, Richard M. Berlin writes:

“In his 39th book, Robert Deluty continues his long record as the contemporary poet whose work is guaranteed to make me laugh out loud one minute and bring tears to my eyes the next.  His craft has evolved to what seems like an effortless level of mastery in poems filled with sly observations, surprise, word play, and his trademark warmth and wit.  Who else could write a book that includes the mind-set of a mastiff, exhausted poets, car mechanics, children, professors, and an illiterate man living on Brooklyn’s Avenue X. Like its predecessors, this collection of poems sparkles on every page.”

“The Inventor as Observer,” as well as all of Deluty’s other books, may be purchased at the UMBC Bookstore.

The department of American studies has received a civic engagement grant from the Maryland Humanities Council for the project, “Looking Forward from the 45th Anniversary of the Catonsville Nine Actions.”Civic Engagement Grants support public programs that promote informed dialogue and civic engagement about critical issues identified by the grant applicant.

The Catonsville Nine were nine activists who burned draft files to protest the Vietnam War. On May 17, 1968 they went to the draft board in Catonsville, Maryland, took 378 draft files, brought them to the parking lot, poured home-made napalm over them, and set them on fire.

The project consists of classroom visits, a public tour of sites in the story of the Catonsville Nine, film screenings, a public dialogue, and the creation of mobile mapping software highlighting key sites. The department hopes to engage students, community-based activists, the general public and the community of Catonsville about not only the historical significance of the actions of the Catonsville Nine, but also how we think about social protest, civic duty, and citizenship for our time.